Saturday, August 19, 2006

Pets Die Too Soon 2

Opening your heart up to love an animal means that you will have years of joy, but also hours and sometimes days or weeks of heartache. Is it worth the pain? In the end, I think no, because they can never live as long as we do and we must endure losing something we love so much. But then you reflect on the years of great memories that you have had with your pet and you do believe it's worth it. Sometimes you even get another animal to help fill that void that comes from being loved by something so unconditionally.

In an earlier post, I comment on the day my friend had to put down her beloved dog. Today, my parents have to do the same to my 20-year-old cat, Casey. We got Casey when I was 12 years old. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was August 1st. My brothers were away in Boston visiting relatives, my parents had just picked me up from camp and informed me that we had a new addition to our family. A Mancoon cat, whom I named Casey. They brought her home to keep our older Calico cat, Ashley, company.

Anyway, today, there will be a lot of things I will be remembering about Casey - how she licked my ears when I would lay on the floor watching tv; how she used to sleep on my bed all the time when I was a kid; how she loved attention and would push her butt up in the air when you pet her; and how her meow sounded like a child crying. But most of all, today marks the end of my childhood pets. Casey was the last one in a long line - Bozo, Ashley, Casey and Bailey.

I thank them for everything they taught me about being responsible, loyal and loving something with all your heart. Adler gets to benefit from that now.